Weirdmaloud
by Tziput13
Summary: Fed up with the usual annoying chaos at home, Lucy decides to strike a deal with a certain seemingly-friendly interdimensional being, and promptly realizes she's been deceived. The demon may be in for a big surprise, however, as he realizes the Loud siblings are not what they seem. One-shot.


_**AN:**_ _There have been quite a few Gravity Falls and Loud House stories posted on FFdotnet which have tried out many combinations of the two fandoms' elements and characters. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to post my take on it or not for this reason, but I liked the idea too much to let it go, so here I am with a simple one-shot I wrote for fun about Lucy Loud and a 'new friend' of hers. Hope you'll enjoy it!_

* * *

 _ **WEIRDMALOUD**_

 _ **or**_

' _ **Why you should think twice about your flawless master plan even if you are an immortal floating triangle.'**_

* * *

"Sigh."

Lucy Loud really wanted to get immersed into her newly bought poem collection book. There were a few dark sonnets written down in it that she wanted to examine and try to discern their inner messages: maybe she could find an inspiration to create something original with her own words.

That, however, needed attention. And attention was a very feeble word, especially in the context of the Loud House.

"Catch that, Linc!" Lynn Loud Jr. shouted as she launched a football ball into the living room from the dining room. "Mine! Mine!" Lincoln shouted back, as confident as ever while he ran backwards trying to catch the ball. Unfortunately, he completely missed that Lola and Lana were playing cards right in the centre of the room. Before Lola could try to teach her sister than three was actually the second highest rated cart in the particular game they were doing, Lincoln stumbled on the Lana's back and plummeted down, falling right over her twin.

"What the heck, Lincoln!" Lana yelled, getting Lincoln's feet away from her back. "You've just made me lose all my cards! I had a good hand!"

"Uhh… hehe… sorry," Lincoln smiled awkwardly, but the smile turned into a frightened expression soon after as he heard a growl below him.

"Get off me before I decide to _destroy_ you!" Lola roared, to the point that the house shook… or at least it seemed to shake. Lincoln scrambled to his feet, away from the furious six-year-old. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to—"

 _BONK!_

Lynn's previously thrown ball had been bouncing around up until that moment and it finally ended its flight on Lincoln's head. The boy simply gave up and let himself drop on the floor, as the rebounded ball flied up in the air again before falling towards him. Lincoln simply had to raise his hands to catch it.

"Good catch, Linc! Told ya' you can get better with a little exercise!"

"Yeah, _perfect catch…"_ Lincoln's sarcasm wasn't easily missed. The twins snorted and returned their attention to the card game and, thus, their arguing as Lola tried to convince Lana that her previous hand had really nothing of value. Lynn helped Lincoln stand back up and dragged him towards another physical exercise: the boy's attempts to pry himself away from her proved fruitless.

Maybe _she_ could get some peace now that—

The doorbell rang, and right after Lucy heard a series of fast footsteps coming down the stairs. Lori Loud stormed through the place without even announcing herself, _literally_ running over both Lincoln and Lynn, who were separated from the impact. Lincoln immediately started to run away in a fast escape, screaming in fright, while Lynn shifted into hunt mode, four-leg-posture and all.

Lori didn't seem to mind them as she went to the front door and opened it.

"Boo-boo bear!"

"Sigh."

Lucy may have been very patient… but even she had her limits. She closed her book and got off from the sofa. She passed beyond the ever-arguing Lola and Lana, giving a fast glance to Lori and Bobby as they dreamily complimented each other and said they were glad to see each other again. She heard Lincoln's screams coming from the kitchen as Lynn tried to capture him. _'Ugh… I just hope Luna won't start practicing right now, or I might have to simply give up on the idea and do it tomorrow.'_

As if on cue, she heard guitar strums coming from the upper floor while she began walking up the stairs. But thankfully, it was Luna's acoustic guitar that she heard, not the electrical one that was enough strong to blast people into walls. She probably still had a chance to find somewhere she could have some quiet and peace… for now.

Quietly, Lucy continued to move, as no one wanted to stop her or request her attention at the moment. The twins' room was opened as well as Lori's, and she could hear Leni's voice talking over the mobile phone from the latter. She guessed that Luan was probably writing a few punchlines for her comedy skits, while Lisa was barricaded in her room as always, doing who knows what kind of scientific shenanigans.

With Lynn busy with her brother-hunting task right now and Luna hopefully keeping it low, it was almost a perfect chance for Lucy. She upped her speed a little and in a few seconds she entered her room and closed the door. Then, she stayed immobile where she was, waiting for a few minutes until she was fully certain that no one was going to knock on the door and disturb her… not right away, at first.

Maybe she could something more than just reading her new book… she hadn't talked with _him_ for a while, in fact. Giving an inquisitive glance at the air vent, Lucy whirled around to face the door and materialized a spare key in one of her hands, one that Lynn conveniently didn't know about. She then proceeded to lock the entrance to her room.

It wouldn't have stopped people from coming in—dang faulty doorknobs—but it would have made them fiddle a little to do so, making noise and giving Lucy plenty of time to hide the little object she was going to prepare. He had asked her to keep his existence a secret himself: it was best if no one knew about him for now.

Quietly, Lucy went to her goth-themed bed and kneeled to check the mysterious wonders stored below. She navigated a little with her hand until her fingers touched what she was looking for, and she retracted her arm to reveal the wooden frame of a Ouija board.

It had all started as a fun game night. The board was actually a gift from her siblings, who had all decided to try it out together with her the first time. Of course, it had all ended up with laughs and various incoherent sentences from the board itself, but Lucy was glad that her sisters and brother had had the thought… and she was also glad that no real spirit had tried to connect with the board and her very peculiar family. She didn't want to think of the possible consequences.

Indeed, she had started to doubt that the board could even work, that night. But as she was about to put the board in one of her drawers, she was almost frightened by the sight of the arrow over the board moving _by its own._ Something that wasn't even contemplated in the instructions book of the thing. It quickly moved over four letters, spelling something unfortunately coherent. A name, to be specific. _Her name._

Before Lucy could get her lighter out to burn the board into oblivion, the planchette continued to move, spelling even longer sentences, and as much as she was wary at first, Lucy couldn't help but wait and let the spirit show her whatever it wanted to say. Yet, it couldn't finish its explanations before Luan called her out from the hallway to continue the party, so Lucy reluctantly had to end the connection and put the board away.

Not that it stopped her from sneaking out from her room during the night (Lynn was a heavy sleeper anyway) to end the conversation.

For a couple of months, it had continued like this, with Lucy using sporadically the board to communicate with the spirit. A spirit who seemed to be shy himself, since he remained cryptic about the questions she asked him and never went beyond a certain limit with his explanations. He was, at least, enough kind to introduce himself as not the soul of a dead person but an 'interdimensional being' of immense knowledge.

Quite a great presentation for someone who went under the simple name of _Bill._

Bill had slowly become an important part of Lucy's life. When she started to give up on the idea of getting him to answer her queries, she decided to let him be a secret-penfriend of sorts. She told him about her family, her friends, her school, she talked about what made her happy and what annoyed her, and Bill was always willing to hear her out and maybe throw a quirky comment to make her lips move upwards, even if only for an instant. Not even Haiku was able to make her so comfortable around someone… granted, as much as Haiku was similar to her, speaking with an Oujia board with someone from another world was on another level.

Thus, Lucy prepared a simple spiritic session: nothing fancy, since Bill had told her it had become easier for him to reach out to the world she lived in—her _dimension,_ to use a word of his. She only needed a few candles a crude symbol drawn around her to have the planchette move already.

 _Hello, Lucy._

"Hello, Bill," Lucy replied politely.

The planchette continued to move. It was very fast nowadays, but Lucy had already grown accustomed to the thing: by then she was able to follow what he wanted to tell her with no problems at all.

 _How's the day been, dear?_

"Well… it's not exactly been most pleasant. My siblings have been quite disturbing today, and I haven't managed to focus on even one of the poems in the collection I bought with my saves."

 _And, as you told me, saves in the Loud House are very serious business, aren't they?_

Lucy nodded out of habit, even if she wasn't sure yet if Bill could _see_ her or not. "I know asking for some peace and quiet here is maybe a bit too much, and I've mostly grown accustomed to the loudness to be honest… but sometimes, I wonder if there could be just a moment, just a short one, where I could have the quiet needed to focus on my things."

 _It is a very unfortunate situation, dear_. _Lucy… I have to tell you something very important, and I need to do it now._

"Huh?" Lucy could tell that Bill was serious. It was the first time she had addressed her with such a sentence. "Is there a problem?"

 _Not in the slightest, thank you, dear. I might have found a way to help you out, Lucy… in your world._

The surprise was too much even for her, and she recoiled a little. "My… world? You can… come here?"

 _That's the plan, even though I'm not sure if I'll manage to pull it off. I'll need your help dear… I can't do this alone._

Suddenly, the possible danger of what was happening came to Lucy. "Wait a second. Bill… you're being different. I almost don't recognize you… what do you want?"

The planchette remained immobile for a few seconds before resuming its movement. Lucy noted how it was a little bit slower now, almost cautious.

 _I understand your concerns, dear. Even so, we've talked with each other for some time. Do you not recognize me, dear? Do you not trust me?_

Lucy didn't know how to respond. She _knew_ it was him… and right then, what reasons could she have to doubt him? It would've come out of nowhere… Bill had always been a great friend to her, listening to her when she wanted to vent, giving smart suggestions when she had problems and reassuring her when she fought with one of her siblings… and given who her roommate was, it happened quite often.

 _I promise you that, once I've arrived there, there's going to be a great change in your life. Something that… will benefit us both. I won't ask you to do anything out of your league, dear… you help me come in, and I make my magic. It's going to be our little_ _ **deal.**_

Lucy's lips twitched for a moment. Then, she sighed.

" _Deal."_

 _Happy to hear that, dear. I'll try to touch the borders of your dimension now, but to come in I'll need someone to pull me inside. When the little arrow burns with blue flames, you'll have to grab it and hold it right in front of yourself._

"Burn? Wait, Bill! I never told you could—?!"

The planchette suddenly lighted up and levitated in the air. Blue flames erupted from the object, projecting blue-ish shadows around her room… but strangely enough, the planchette didn't start to carbonize, nor did the flames spread to the board and the floor nearby. The fire continued to burn, without consuming anything.

Startled at first, Lucy looked at the fire, entrapped by the sight. The instructions Bill had left her with came into her memory, and for a moment she thought he could see the form of something hovering before her, right beyond the board. Something triangular.

He was waiting: it was now or never. She didn't know how Bill was going to take a refusal right now, and she didn't want to know: even if he wasn't a spirit, she knew he had to be powerful, especially given the little display he was showing her now. And even if Bill wasn't going to trash the entire house, she wasn't just going to ditch the spirit she had grown a special bond with in the previous months. Not to mention that the spectacle of seeing _concrete results_ for one of the numerous, dark activities she liked to do was more than fascinating.

"Lucy?" Luna's voice suddenly halted her thoughts. She whirled around in complete surprise only to let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the door was still closed. "I need help from someone good with words to think up of a few words for a song of mine. Think you can stop at my place for a couple of minutes?"

"Yes, of course!" Lucy said, a bit too loud to be compatible with her usual tone. For a few, terrible seconds she thought that Luna was going to worry about her and barge into the room, but then her sister replied, "Okay, sis, good to hear you're a little more excited about it than usual. See you later!"

Luna's footsteps confirmed that the close call had been evaded, but Lucy knew better than to challenge luck anymore. She turned back to the planchette, still burning and defying gravity, and she made her decision.

She slowly approached the floating arrow with one of her hands. She felt the heat, but it never went past the pain limit: she was able to touch the material even as the flames engulfed her fingers.

Lucy moved her hand around the object and picked it up, keeping it firmly in front of her and following Bill's instructions. _Deal,_ was what Bill had said, and almost unknowingly, Lucy shook the object in the air as if she was shaking the hand of someone.

Then, it happened. The planchette _blew up_ in her hand and blue flames erupted around the entire room, startling her. She jumped back in surprise, barely keeping a yelp from escaping her mouth as the flames danced around, creating ominous shadowy figures over the walls and furniture.

Then, she started to hear it. A long, uninterrupted series of laughs, a chortle that didn't give any room to reassurance.

" _Hahahaha! Hahahaha!"_

For the first time in months, Lucy felt fright. He opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out of her suddenly dry mouth. She was frozen on the spot, unable to react to the spectacle in front of her as the Ouija board started to burn as well. Every flame in the room was emitting a misty smoke that slowly condensed in the centre of the room into a shape… a triangular shape. Above it all, the voice continued to laugh hysterically… it was very loud now, but no one burst into the room to come to Lucy's rescue.

" _Hahaha! Haha-_ hahaha!" the voice seemed to be having a hoot, then it suddenly stopped. The shape, now clearly identifiable as a triangle, suddenly changed colour. It was no longer smoke as well. It was solid matter… at least, to the eye it looked like it was. It was one, single eye, staring down at Lucy. It was a yellow, bright figure, clothed with a top hat and a bow tie.

It was Bill Cipher.

"And now, _dear,_ " Bill said to the frightened girl, "it's time for you to do your part!"

Then it happened. One moment, Lucy was sitting on the floor. And the moment after, she felt like a dozen of vacuum cleaner suddenly activated and started to suck her away. She lost control of her eyesight and couldn't exactly see what happened.

When she managed to shake her head and give a glance at her surroundings, though, the scene left her speechless. _She_ was now in the centre of the room, where the floating triangle was once located. And, right in front of the door, was her slumped down body… apparently lifeless.

'… _Am… am I dead?'_ for a moment, she wondered whether that was good or bad news.

Unfortunately, reality was much more complex… and bad at the same time. Slowly, Lucy's body stood up, straightened her back and started to test her hands and fingers. It took her some time, but after a few seconds of uncomfortable movements and a bit of staggering, she managed to reach an equilibrium. Lucy… the _floating_ Lucy at least, didn't believe her eyes, and she looked down in refusal.

Then she saw that her legs were missing.

"Oh… oh, no!" she couldn't help but utter in shock. Lucy looked at the lower part of her body, now a simple misty tail, then she glanced at her hands, now transparent. She was a ghost… a spirit!

"Eh, eh, eh, I should do this more often. It was funny to mess with Pine Tree, but this is already a whole new experience!" someone said. Lucy hastily turned towards the source of the voice: her body. It didn't spoke with her voice, though… it was very different from her normal tone. It was the same voice of the triangular being that had appeared before her moments before.

She didn't need Lisa's advice to put two and two together.

"Bill!" Lucy hissed. The 'Lucy' looked at her, or at least it tried to before snorting. "Wait a second, dear, these hair fringes you have are covering the eyes… I don't really know why you like to go around without being able to look around, but who am I to judge?"

The body moved a hand under her bangs and lifted her hair… revealing Lucy's eyes. But they weren't normal… they were yellow coloured, glowing and the pupil was vertical and rectangular.

"Bill… what did you _do?"_ Lucy went straight to the point, hovering nearer to her possessed body and pointing a finger at Bill. As much as the current situation wasn't exactly working out as she intended, she wasn't going to let herself panic. First, she had to understand what kind of sorcery had just happened.

"Oh, what's with that harsh tone, dear?" Bill said, adding a mocking accent to the word 'dear'. He looked around the room and he smiled once he saw something useful on Lynn's side. "Are you mad? Do you think I've taken your body without permission? That's not true… I asked for your help, and to get here and stay for more than five seconds I needed a host. Your body is going to help me out, indeed!"

"That… that wasn't what I thought you were going to do, I didn't know! You cheated!" Lucy stated. "The deal is off!"

"Wow, wow, slow down there, kid. I don't even know what you're talking about. I've been very clear with my request… but you know what, that doesn't matter anymore!" Bill said, exhibiting himself in a disturbing grin… even more disturbing since it was Lucy's body we were talking about. He picked up the object he was so interested in, a simple headband, and promptly put in on to keep the hair out of his eyes.

Then, he turned around and started to walk towards the door without further words. "Bill!" Lucy called, but Bill didn't look like he had heard her. "Bill!"

"Relax, dear. I'm not going to destroy anything here… not yet," Bill said, ignoring the spirit of the little girl as she started to hover around him, trying to somehow catch his attention. After some fiddling with the key, he opened the door and walked into the hallway. "I just have to learn exactly where the 'Gravity Falls' of this dimension is, the one place where I can find a leak in the dimensional continuum. I barely managed to pin point that it's still on this planet and continent, but I need to be sure, I need more details…"

"Why would you even want to… look for that?" Lucy asked in confusion. She was failing to follow Bill's logic, and her worries didn't concern the demon alone. What was going to happen if any of her siblings found her… her body? What was Bill going to do with them? Could they see her now that she was a ghost of sorts, even? Could they notice something was off in 'her' now that—

"Hey, Lucy?" the voice of Lana startled Lucy out of her thoughts. "I need some scrap wood for a temporary fix-up downstairs. Looks like Leni has destroyed a door thanks to one of Luan's pranks. Think you have some leftovers? I know you have a few unused, uh… sarpophadus-things."

"Lana, wait!" Lucy shouted. She hovered in front of her little sister, who had her hands already full with woodworker equipment, and started to agitate her arms. "Lana!"

Lana continued to look beyond Lucy… towards her possessed body. The girl slowly whirled around only to glare at the grinning spectacle that was Bill's face. "Sure thing, sweetie-pie!" he said, "Suit yourself!"

Lucy looked at Lana, searching for any kind of reaction to the voice of Bill… but apparently, she bought it. She looked more puzzled by the absurd grin on Lucy's face, as well as the fact she was wearing a headband… and that she had called her 'sweetie-pie'.

Yet, why would she even question that? She wasn't going to reject free materials for her job!

"Thanks, Lucy, I owe you one!" she said before going into Lucy's room and drawing a worrying saw out of the heap of tools she was carrying. Lucy simply resorted to glare at her own body, unsure whether to be angry because he had possessed her or because she had just unleashed Lana on her sarcophagus collection.

"Hey, don't give me _that_ look. That little angel was too much even for me!" Bill said as he started to walk down the steps towards the ground floor. Lucy followed him, not believing one word. "Bill… what do you want?" she finally asked. "Why are you doing this?"

"Glad you finally asked, dear. You see, I've had plans for another place, one where I hope me and a couple of friends of mine could have some fun in, you know. Burning stuff, enslaving people, the usual."

He grinned when he saw the floating spirit gasp. "But as much as I hate to think so, there are been a couple of hiccups lately. Some people don't want me to make a visit, can you believe them? How rude!"

Lucy's face remained deadpan as Bill continued to talk. "So, I thought, why shouldn't I have a Plan B in case something went wrong? I mean, sure, I'm going to take over everything anyway, sooner or later… but all things considered, if I continue to have to move back my schedule with the other place I'll end up dying of boredom. So here I am! Trying to find out the weak point of this dimension, the one point in space where fractures between worlds can open more easily! Heck, if I'm lucky, I won't even need to trick someone into helping me!"

He let out a laugh as he looked at Lucy sinisterly. "Well, except for you of course, dear."

The extent of the revelation of the demon's plans were almost too much to bear for Lucy. Was he… planning to literally conquer the world?

She had yet to realize just how much dangerous Bill's plans concerning her world could go. But even at her young age, she didn't need to ponder over what she needed to do.

"You're not going to do anything, Bill. I have helped you… and now I'll stop you!"

Bill exploded into a loud laughing cacophony. By then he had reached the living room, and his sudden reaction got the immediate attention of Lola and her new opponent in the card-game, Lisa. They both raised their eyebrows as they looked over their suddenly very happy sister.

"Has one of her pet bats sucked a little too much blood from her?" Lola wondered.

"I doubt that. But I'll have to keep an eye on her… if she's lost her mind, blood loss or not, she might be the perfect subject to keep an eye on for my psychology essays," Lisa said. Lola's face turned back to her, sighing. "Less science talk and more ace-giving, Lisa. I know you have one…"

Lucy's lips thinned as she witnessed impotently to the lack of attention from two additional sisters of hers. "Sorry about that, dear, but that was simply hilarious!" Bill said. "I mean, hoping to stop me in your current state? Haha! Dear, dear, you don't need to worry about anything… listen to this, after I'm done here, I'll give your body back! Then, you'll just have to wait until I manage to come here again… without the need of a host body. Then, the real fun will finally begin! And hey, maybe you'll be able to join in the fun too!"

Lucy ignored his apparent offer to participate in the madness as an idea popped in her head, one that looked too good to be real. "Why are you doing this? I could warn my family about what happened, or even whoever could something about it. What's the deal with that?" she said.

"By golly, congratulations! I didn't expect you to realize that so fast!" Bill faked surprise. "Tell me, are people going to believe the little story of Lucy Loud, the eight-year-old kid of the Loud family who's grown into liking quite the peculiar interests, including the supposedly paranormal? Are they listen sincerely to your warning as you tell them that you were possessed and that who did so is going to take over the world in the near future?"

Lucy's face remained neutral, but she couldn't help grabbing the side of her ghost-vest and tugging at it.

"Not so easy, is it? At least Pine Tree had something to show his point, like the 'book', and he wasn't the only guy in town who had seen weird things happening around… you, on the other hand. You have _nothing._ But, as I've said, relax, it'll only take me a couple of minutes at most!" Bill said. He looked around the room and finally saw what he needed: the family PC located right by the side of the staircase. He walked solemnly towards the device… a fast search, and then the road ahead would be sealed.

And Lucy could do nothing but look over, unable to do anything to stop him.

* * *

It was an obvious given that Luna Loud liked music, of course. She didn't just like to jam with her guitar, though: she liked all aspects of it and listening to it helped her in tasks that didn't have directly to do with music as well.

Therefore, while waiting for her little sister Lucy to finish whatever she was doing in her room, she decided that to think up of a few words for a song a good musical background was just what she needed. And of course, she was a bit turned off by the fact that her headphones weren't in their usual location in one of her drawers.

Luan had immediately told her that she had momentarily burrowed them and, with a horrible pun that did not ease Luna's worries, she guessed that she had forgotten them somewhere in the living room. Thus, Luna had immediately left the room to go downstairs, her hopes about the state of her headphones not good since Lynn's hunt on Lincoln was a very noisy event and she knew that every solid object was never safe when her sporty sister was around.

However, there wasn't much destruction when she reached the living room. Lisa and Lola were immersed in a card game, sitting on the floor in front of the seat and occasionally gazing one over their hands to gaze at the other's one, and she could hear Lincoln's terrified screams and Lynn's laughing from the basement. Smiling, Luna looked over the sofa and was happy to find that her headphones were still in one piece.

When she turned around to go back from where she came, though, she noticed that Lucy was in the room as well, immersed in some type of search in her computer. "Now, now… what do we have here? The paranormal seems common in Kansas…"

Luna couldn't help rolling her eyes. Mick Swagger only knew what Lucy was looking for right now. Her voice seemed a little different, but for the moment she didn't think too much about it, and she moved behind her.

"Luce!" she called, putting a hand over her shoulder. She expected her to sigh or mutter that she wanted to finish her business. Instead, Lucy's reaction was far different: the little goth almost jumped in the air and she scrambled to hide was she was looking at on the computer's screen. "Oh! Hey, uhm… Luna."

"Heh, for once I was the one startling you, huh?" Luna laughed. "Why are you hiding that, though? I saw everything, I'm not gonna scold you if you suddenly got interested in geography. I just wanted to ask if you were already free to do me that little favour I asked you about earlier."

It was weird to look at Lucy with her bangs no more hiding her eyes. But even if Luna wasn't accustomed to them, it looked like Lucy's eyes had something… uncanny in them. As if they twitched at random with no apparent reason.

Lucy herself seemed completely lost by Luna's simple request. She saw her look around, a visible look of annoyance in her face, before looking back at Luna. Then, she smirked.

"Sure thing, sis. I'll finish my quick search here later!"

Once again, Lucy's tone sounded very odd… but Luna's possible ideas about something happening to her little sister immediately disappeared. Lucy was literally speaking her language! _And_ she seemed willing and _happy_ to help! Who was she to stop that?

"Great! Come up, and please ignore Luan's puns. She is on a whim today, if you know what I mean…" she said before the two of them walked away from the computer.

She failed to see that Lisa and Lola had stopped to look at their cards ever since they first heard Lucy talk, and they both had their eyes completely focused on the goth.

Neither did 'Lucy'.

* * *

"Just a small setback, dear… you'll have to wait a little more than I thought!" Bill said with a grin as he followed Luna into her room, his voice seemingly unheard by her.

"My sister is going to realize soon that something is wrong in me, Bill. You can't keep faking it forever," Lucy replied. The now ghost-like sister had not left Bill's side for one second, and she wasn't still letting go of her hopes of Luna or anyone inside the house finding out what had happened to her.

However, the way Bill had managed to gain Luna's trust so easily had made it a little harder to do so… especially since Lucy had told a lot of things about her family to the demon. He knew their interests, their likes and dislikes.

He basically knew how to approach each of her siblings, all thanks to her.

"I'm trying to get some emotion into the words, but I can't for the love of me do anything more emotional than Luan's puns today," Luna explained as she opened the door and walked into her room. Luan was sitting on the chair right in front of her mirror, her eyes focused on something that neither Luna nor 'Lucy' didn't care enough to look at. "I thought you could help me out with that, you're a master with poems after all."

"Oh, indeed I am, sis!" 'Lucy' replied. "My poems are absolutely the best. Never did I write such sleep-inducing works—I mean, emotional!"

The real Lucy crossed her hands, glaring at Bill, who simply continued to keep his disturbing grin on the face that was hers as Luna shrugged and sat on her bed to snatch the leaves she had left beforehand, a few random words scribbled over. "Well, if that's so, see if you can guess something to add here. I just need a couple of well-chosen words that can inspire me to fill in the gaps and I'll do the rest!"

'Lucy' took the papers and scanned over the few notes Luna had written down, but obviously she wasn't paying too much attention to it. Before Bill could throw in a witty remark, though, someone beat him on time.

"Don't worry, Luna, I'm sure that inspiration will strike you soon. If you can _bear the hit,_ anyway! Hahaha, get it?"

Luna glared at her younger sister in annoyance, but Bill's reaction was far different. His eyes stopped moving and his head rotated mechanically, twitch after twitch, as if 'Lucy' was an old, rusty robot, until he was looking straight at Luan.

"Was that… supposed to be _funny?"_ 'Lucy' blurted out. The _real_ Lucy, who had been floating around in deep thought, stopped moving around to focus on Bill.

"Why, of course!" Luan said, turning her chair around to look at her sisters. "After all, it's not like creativity is always at your disposal. You have to wait for it and be ready to catch it, sometimes…"

"Luan…" Luna, sensing another terrible joke coming up, tried to stop her in vain.

"…or else, you may _miss her!_ Hahaha!"

Luna groaned. "Dude, we're trying to do something serious here. Please, tone down the—"

"Did I hear that _right?!"_

'Lucy' was so distressed that Luna wasn't even offended by the interruption, looking at her in surprise. "That's not even a joke!"

Luan frowned lightly. "Yes, it is! Not my fault if in I'm the only one in this family besides dad who has some good sense of humour. Though, it's true that not everyone has the _quips_ for comedy! Hahaha!"

"Uuuh, Luan? I think Lucy isn't appreciating your puns right now…" Luna warned, as she saw something that could only be interpreted as steam coming out of the ears of her younger sister.

"I… can't… tolerate this!" Bill blabbered. "Gah! And I thought Stan Pines was bad!"

"Who's Stan?" at that point, Luna had no idea of what was going on with Lucy.

Yet, Luan saw the perfect chance, and she had no intention to let it go to waste. "Isn't that obvious? He's the guy _stan-ding_ around! _Hahahaha!"_

Bill couldn't hold it anymore. He jumped right out of Luna's bed and in front of Luan he shouted, _"That's it!_ Shut that mouth or I swear I'll blast you into the depths of your worst nightmare!"

"Hey, that's harsh even for you. Been reading Great Grandma Harriet's book again, Lucy?" Luan said, unimpressed by her sister's threat.

Luna should have started to suspect something by then. But instead, 'Lucy's outburst suddenly made her realize what could be the main topic of the new song.

"Yes, _that's it,_ Lucy! I can already see the words flowing!" Luna exclaimed. Luan and 'Lucy' looked at her, surprised, just in time to see her grab her guitar, turn it on at full volume and stand up.

Before Bill could realize what was going to happen, Luna started to sing and strum her instrument at the same time. _Loudly._ _"In the name of the skies and everything that's above them! I call for their end, to banish the nightmares back to the depths!"_

Luan covered her ears with half-closed eyes, annoyed by the high volume but otherwise bearing the noise, since she did spend months and months living in the same room with her rocker sister. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for Bill, who had yet to grow accustomed to human senses, hearing included.

"MY EARS!" 'Lucy' shouted. With Luan's jokes already getting the better of him, Bill couldn't handle Luna's music and singing right after, so he did the only reasonable thing to do: run to the door and slam it shut behind itself.

"Gee, she's a bit jumpy today. No wonder he didn't like my puns…" Luan muttered in annoyance. "At least Luna has finally found a good inspiration for her song… Lucy better get those ears covered, then!"

As Luna continued to scream word after word that naturally came to her and Luan turned back to her work on her prop desk, Lucy's ghost looked over them with a neutral face. The events had happened so fast she had just assisted to them without reacting to what was going on.

But now that Bill had left the room, she could finally think about it for a moment… and a hint of a smile passed over her face.

* * *

Bill panted as he leaned on the closed door behind him. Luna's thunderous guitar could still be heard loud and clear, but at least the noise was no more making his mortal body's ears bleed… or at least, that was Bill's impression of it.

"Ugh… I've had enough of helping that stupid girl's sisters. I'll get what I want and then I'll be outta here," he mumbled as he started for the stairs.

Unfortunately, destiny had other plans for him, as Leni came out of the stairs just as he was going to move around the corner. "Oh, hi, Lucy!" Leni said, smiling cheerfully.

Bill would've really wanted to slap the sister out of her way. But he had already risked blowing his cover back in the two teens' room, and he didn't want to take his chances… not to mention that he doubted an eight-year-old's body had enough strength to push a sixteen-year-old aside. Sighing roughly, he waved at her. "Hello, particularly 'bright' sister."

"Oh, why, thank you!" Leni replied. "I was wondering if you had a moment to help me, Lucy. I've been trying my hand at a couple of designs for young kids, and you're the best size for what I have in mind in the family. Do you think you have a few minutes?"

Bill gritted his teeth and stifled a snarl. "I'm afraid that I will not be able to you help you with that, now. I am _very_ busy!"

"Oh…" Leni said, her smile faltering a little. "No worries, if you find any moment to—"

The door to Luna's and Luan's room shot open, as Luna leaped into the hallway yelling during the climax of the song. Behind her, Luan leaned out and opened her mouth while looking at 'Lucy'.

Bill reacted on instinct: he grabbed Leni's dress and pulled her into her own room. "Never mind, I can do what I have to later! Let's just get _out of here!"_

* * *

Bill wasn't impressed. He was currently wearing a dress with a bit too much colours for his taste, with Leni circling around her with quizzical eyes, sometimes evaluating her sister's body proportions with a measuring tape.

"Are we finished yet? No offense, 'dear sister', but I'm starting to get a bit bored here," Bill said, as much calmly as possible. He couldn't bring himself to shout on Leni's face… not because he was preoccupied she could suspect something, of course. It had more to do with the blond girl sitting on the bed on the other side of the room and the teen beside her who were talking animatedly about their programs to spend the afternoon together. He couldn't make a scene, definitely not in front of the oldest of the bunch. He had to keep it low and play his part.

At least, here he wasn't being tortured by ear-piercing music and soul-breaking jokes. He could still hear Luna's music from across the door as a painful reminder of that.

"Almost done, Lucy," Leni said. "I guess I'll have to redo this one... I'm not happy with the colours here. Let me get the last one!"

Bill sighed and resort to wait a bit more. At least, the dumb one was almost done! Then, he'd be able to go back to his search… he had to admit, this family was starting to get on his nerves.

As if on cue, the door to Lori's and Leni's room was slammed open unceremoniously. Leni yelped in fright, losing the hold on the last dress in the process, as Lola unceremoniously marched into the room.

"Lucy!" she proclaimed, "I need you in my room now! I am having a tea party and I'm not letting your helpful-sibling-streak go unused by me!"

Lola's appearance and subsequent _order_ were so sudden that Bill momentarily failed to find a reply. He simply continued to stand on the stool as Leni tried to recover her dress before it creased itself and Lori shifted her attention away from a surprised Bobby for a second, glaring at Lola.

"You have to thank I'm in a good mood right now, Lola, or you'd already be fodder for your twin's animals!" she said bitterly. "You'll wait after Leni is done with whatever she's doing and—wait, you said streak-something?"

She looked at 'Lucy' quizzically. "What does she mean, Lucy?"

"I… uhm…" For a dream demon whose knowledge covered entire centuries of human history and more than that, Bill looked very distressed by Lori's simple question.

"Not gonna ask as long as she becomes my tea party guest!" Lola rebutted, grabbing 'Lucy's hand and pulling Bill away from the stool. Leni didn't even protest as she was too much preoccupied dusting the dress off, and before Lori could scold her, Lola was out of their room with a confused Bill in tow.

"Now, now, Lucy, I hope you know some good manners, because I expect only the best from you… as you did helping Luna and Leni before. Or there may be consequences for your behaviour!"

All Bill could do to reply was utter only one word.

"…what?"

* * *

"So, what do you say, Lady Lucy? Appreciate my custom made British flavour?"

"Soo… great…" At this point, Bill was already done. But he couldn't abandon the plan! Not yet! He had to stay calm, he had the solution right there in that house! He just needed to be patient a little longer…

"I think you've misunderstood my question here. Do you… _appreciate… IT!?"_

Also, as much as Lori looked dangerous, he had to admit the little one had more than one way to appear threatening.

"Uh, it was a great deal, Lady Lola," he brought himself to say in his most gentleman-sounding voice, "One of the best, even!"

"Thank you! I was sure you would appreciate it!" Lola happily said, taking the tea pot away from Bill and standing up. "I'll take the biscuits, just give me a few moments!"

He _needed_ a way to get out of this, before he ultimately lost his mind. But how?

Bill was so concentrated in thinking up of something while Lola was busy going through her drawers that he didn't hear the entrance of another person in the room, right behind him.

Well, he didn't until the banging started. Wood being hammered hard, and _loudly._

"Lana!" Lola's jerked as if she was a bird, firing her most-threatening glare at her sister. "You'll wait until me and Lucy are done with our tea party before I let you work with whatever you're doing!"

"Can't do, Lola," Lana said offhandedly, "Lucy let me use the quality wood these coffins are made of and I'm not waiting until I lose my chance at it. Right, Lucy?"

"Uuuhh… yes? Yes, of course, I even suggest you do it pronto!" Bill saw an opportunity, and he was not the one to let it go to waste.

Lola gave a glare to 'Lucy', but then she directed her annoyance at her twin again. "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to hope she won't, because I'm not waiting either! I will finish this tea party with her, here and now!" she said.

"Then I hope you two enjoy some background noise."

"No, you didn't see the hidden message. Get. Out!"

"This is also my room!"

"This is only your room because I tolerate you! And tolerance-levels have reached a new low!"

"Oh, so that's it then? You don't even know how hard it is to _tolerate_ your continuous so-called tea parties, beauty rehearsal and, most of all, the uninterrupted _boasting!"_

" _Gasp!_ Why you—!"

Bill grinned as the twins leaped at each other and began the nth brawl. Tiptoeing, he calmly left the room, rubbing his palms as he walked into the hallway.

"Heh, at least that's done! Man, these mortal young ears are sure a pain to bear… thankfully I'll be done here before—!"

"Greetings, third elder sister," a voice interrupted. "Pardon me for my sudden interference in your monologues, but I have the suspect that you feel particularly inclined to lend a hand people around you lately and I need assistance for a task mine where a hand that is not the one of a fifteen-months-old like our sister Lily is would be greatly appreciated."

Bill raised a hand and tried to zap Lisa on pure instinct. When he remembered that he wasn't in the nightmare realm nor in a dream, and he was just controlling a powerless human body, he quickly retracted his arm and awkwardly smiled. "Uh, well, you see, I am pretty busy now, and…"

Lisa tilted her head. Bill knew that she was supposedly the smartest out of the family, and the image of a four-year-old winning Junior Nobel Prizes had amused him in the past, when Lucy had told him about it. Now though, the glint of surprise in her eyes made him suddenly reconsider the importance of Lisa, as he saw something he had seen in the past in the first member of the Pines family he had encountered.

The only difference now being that he was too flustered by his recent experiences to come up with a good way to trick Lisa.

"But now that I think about it, I may be able to help you out anyway! One minute more won't change my life!" he quickly added through gritted teeth.

Lisa's perplexed face turned into a smile. "Excellent! I assure you that the procrastination you'll have to endure will not go to waste! To my room, sibling!"

* * *

"Well, this doesn't look hard," Bill said to himself as he waited beside a leveller. Lisa's room was currently occupied by an unidentified machine of sorts, which had already been described by the genius. He had lost interest as far as ten seconds after she had started talking—not because he couldn't understand it, but just because it wasn't part of his plan—and he continued to play the part of the uninterested sister as Lisa messed around with the panels around the machine, wrench in hand.

"I am almost done, Lucy!" Lisa affirmed, "Just have to give one last check to the components and then we'll be able to proceed."

"Sure thing," 'Lucy' replied. This was definitely better than his previous encounters with the Loud sisters… easier to tolerate, for sure. He just hoped he'd be able to return to the computer downstairs to finish his search soon… he wasn't sure whether he could handle more of this madness or not.

"The knobs here seem in order… and that's the last one. Very well, we're good to go! Get ready, elder sister, we're ready to write history here!"

Bill rolled his eyes but nonetheless complied, moving a hand over the lever. Lisa went to the other side of the room and placed a hand on a lever of her own. "Now, remember my instructions. On the count of three, we have to pull down the levers at the same time, otherwise the outcome might be more explosive than needed. This machine was designed to work with a very unstable energy source, so we have to be careful!"

Bill nodded and waited as Lisa started her count. "Three! Two! One!"

"Almost there, then I'll be able to leave this house for good…" Bill mumbled.

"Now!"

Lisa and 'Lucy' pulled the levers down and the machine turned on with a roar, trembling loudly. "It's working! It's working!" Lisa said excitedly, tapping her feet on the floor.

"Well, it sure is. Happy to help, but now I have my own business to—"

Then, the explosion happened.

Lisa moved a sleeve over her glasses and cleaned the ash off them the best she could. The machine was a wreck and the entire room was covered in black dust, but Lisa didn't look particularly aghast at the outcome of the machine's activation. The same couldn't be said for 'Lucy', who was frozen in a T-pose of sorts in complete shock.

Lisa didn't notice her. "Well, that was a bit more explosive than I expected, but nonetheless! Two more seconds of clean functionality before the detonation! I must to note this down."

"A little… _bit!?"_ Bill blurted out. "You know this was going to happen? You said you didn't want this be explosive!"

"Correction: more explosive than needed. Unfortunately, experimenting with the energy source I've been studying lately has quite loud side effects, but I guessed that our family could handle it since we're all used to frequent exposure to noise," Lisa explained calmly while going to get her notepad (or one that was enough white to write over it).

"What…? How—no, I'm not even going to try to justify that. I'm gonna turn around and go back to my business, I'm already—"

Bill had not noticed the baby crib that was located inside the room up until the yawning sound of a baby was heard, and Lily's head emerged from the edge of the bed.

She smiled at 'Lucy', who didn't know how to react at first, then a noise came from behind her… something comparable to a fart.

Lily laughed, with a guilty yet cute smile. "Poo-poo…" she said.

And indeed, 'poo-poo' was a good description for the smell that invaded the nostrils of Bill's mortal body, giving him a concrete example of a typical side-product of living beings on planet Earth.

"I believe it may be Lori's turn to change her diaper… or is it Lincoln? Now that I think about it, when was the last time you did your turn, Lucy?" Lisa said, not even looking back at her as she rummaged through her blown things.

When her question was left unanswered, she turned around and saw that Lucy was nowhere to be found. When Lisa interrogative gaze fell on Lily, she simply shrugged, no more knowing than her about what had just happened.

"Well, if it's her turn, it'll take her more than a short escape to avoid her duties," Lisa said. "Now, where was I?"

* * *

Bill was panting heavily on the ground floor. He was already in front of the PC, which was thankfully still on and with the pages he had opened before still where he had left them, but he needed a moment to recover his breath. He still wasn't great at managing the energy of the bodies he possessed, apparently.

"This… place… is a nightmare!" he exclaimed, before looking over at the computer. "Gotta get that info and then _outta here!"_

He moved a hand towards the mouse, mere centimetres away from victory, when Lincoln tackled him, pushing the both of them away from the computer and down on the floor. "Lucy! Quick, down and quiet!" he whispered, expecting her to comply and do the same.

Instead, Lucy's reaction was the opposite of what he expected. "What's wrong with you, early senior citizen!?" 'Lucy' said, starting to push Lincoln away. "Get off me, I have work to do and I've already wasted too much time!"

Lincoln started to fight back, trying to make her shut up. "Lucy, what the…?! Quiet, _she'll find me!"_

"Nope, I'm done standing by while you freaks make me lose my mind!" at that point, Bill has lost every bit of patience. "Let go of…!"

Someone stepped into the room, making both Lincoln and 'Lucy' suddenly stop their bickering.

"Liiincoooooln?" Lynn's voice called. "Come on, Linc, you can't escape forever from your destiny! Come here and fight it like the man you say you are and… Luce?"

Lynn found herself in front of a strange scene. Lincoln was in the centre of the living room and he was holding Lucy right in front of her, as if she was a live shield. Lucy had a headband keeping her air lifted over her eyes and her expression looked all but neutral… in fact, she looked annoyed and surprised at the same time.

"Well, I must say Linc, using Lucy as a way to stall me is a good move, but you can't escape forever… sooner or later I will… huh?"

'Lucy' had something different in her. As she walked towards them, in fact, she had tried to move back a little bit, even going as far as pushing Lincoln. Was she… scared… of her, just like their brother?

Lynn's puzzlement shifted into predator mode again, and she grinned. "Mmhh, Lucy… you seem a bit in distress today. Aren't…" she made another step forward, "…you?"

'Lucy' and Lincoln retreated once again, the only confirmation she needed.

"Oh, this is gonna be even funnier than I thought."

* * *

The noise coming from the ground floor became quite distressing, to the point that Lori decided that enough was enough. "Sorry about this, Boo-boo bear, but I have to put some sense in my siblings before we end up needing to shout at each other to talk."

"Oh, there's no need to do that, I don't mind them!" Bobby immediately said.

Lori smiled, but her answer remained firm. "If I left them on the loose for too long, they may end up doing something reckless… especially if Lynn is involved. Just give me some time and I'll be back!"

She stood up and walked towards the hallway, giving a glance to Leni as she was still busy analysing the clothes she had tried on Lucy before. She was still wondering what the deal with the goth sister was, in fact. There was a sort of different feel to her than usual… and that didn't even have to do with the fact she was wearing a headband.

Well, not _just that,_ at least.

As Lori left her room, she could hear the full ruckus from downstairs: screams and war cries, fast footsteps, and of course crashing noises here and there. Sighing, Lori donned her best authoritative frown and moved towards the stairs to reprimand whoever was responsible for the chaos.

When she turned around the corner to go to the living room, though, she found a flustered Lucy coming towards her.

"They're mad! MAD, I tell you!" 'Lucy', who had lost her headband and once again had her hair covering her eyes, babbled. Lori was a bit too much annoyed to take her words seriously though.

"Now, don't you think you can pull the victim card with me just because you always manage to go unnoticed around here! You will tone it down so that I can focus freely on the very important things I need to discuss with Bobby, or _else!"_

Lori's vehemence took Bill aback, who moved away from her and stumbled towards the door to Lucy's and Lynn's room.

Around them, the events started to unfold one after the other.

"Lucy!" Luna called, opening her door and leaning over, "Sorry for bothering you again, sis, but you gotta help me with a couple of last rhymes! I think they'd be perfect in my song!"

"Lucy, why didn't you like my previous jokes that much? Here's a new one you're gonna love: a vampire, a zombie and a witch walk into a bar…" Luan started, peeking from behind Luna.

Leni emerged from the door to Lori's room as well, carrying a black-coloured dress. "Hey, Lucy, think you have just a moment to try this one out again? I can't decide between this black or that black!"

Lola and Lana were still pushing and arguing with each other, but that did not prevent them from exiting their room to have a word with Lucy… while still pushing and pulling at each other.

"Lucy, we're not finished yet with my tea party! Get back here!"

"Lucy, while working with them your coffins' designs actually gave me a couple of ideas, can you give me a hand with those?!"

"I may require your assistance, please," Lisa said, walking out with Lily held out in front of her. "Lily needs her standard cleaning procedures asap."

"Poo-poo…" Lily confirmed.

Lincoln had been climbing up the stairs the entire time, and he finally reached the top, crawling over the floor, apparently defeated. "Lucy… leaving me alone with the _beast_ down there was an ugly move!"

" _Luuucyyyy!"_ Lynn's voice called from downstairs, as she started to move towards the crowd from the living room. "You're up next, little sister!"

The voices of the various Loud children quickly overlapped. Bill's vision was partly obscured by the hair, but the eyes still moved quickly from a face to the other as they closed on him.

"AAARGH!" he finally snapped, "I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"

He opened the door behind himself, threw himself into the room and slammed it shut.

The siblings silenced themselves, watching the door Lucy had just hidden herself behind with various stages of perplexity. Lynn finally reached her siblings upstairs, while Lincoln managed to stand up and flex his back to see if he was still in one piece.

"Uuh… Lori? Guys?" Bobby asked, leaning from the door to Lori's room. "Did something happen? I heard someone screaming."

Lincoln gave a look to Bobby, then he watched every one of his sisters, one by one. He thought over the way Lucy had reacted when he had tried to hide with her somewhere safe.

"Say, guys," he said, "have you perhaps noticed something… strange in Lucy today?"

 _Everyone_ nodded.

* * *

Bill was breathing fast, the heart inside the body beating fast. This was a nightmare—no, not the nightmare realm, this was an _actual nightmare for him!_ He needed to get out, here and now! He was losing his—

The floating form of Lucy Loud materialized in from of him. And, in a rare occurrence, she was also smiling.

"Hey, Bill," she said ironically. "I hope you've enjoyed your time with my siblings, and that they did not bother you too much. They're a fun lot, aren't they?"

Bill simply pointed a trembling hand at her. "You… knew this would _happen?_ You… double-crossing, sub-par goth-themed crook!"

"Not at all. To be honest, I was getting frightened, desperate even, but when I saw how your encounter with Luna and Luan played out, I thought that maybe _knowing_ about my sisters and actually meet them in first person were two different things. Guess my hunch was right, after all."

Bill lowered his arm, but he continued to glare at her. He tried to come up with a retort, but he only managed to let out a few low throaty sounds, his rage and frustration too high to think properly.

Then, he passed a hand over his face in exasperation. "Ugh. I am _done_ with this place… I am too tired to even get angry about this."

He moved a hand, and suddenly Lucy felt herself being sucked away towards her body. A moment later, feelings returned to her, and she found herself back into her old self, legs thankfully included. She suddenly felt exhausted and put a hand on the wall nearby, but nonetheless she continued to smile.

Then, she turned her gaze to Bill, in full triangle form and floating in the centre of the bedroom. He was only partly visible, as if he was losing opacity and getting more and more transparent with each passing second.

"I… _huff…_ I guess this is a goodbye. Not gonna miss you, Bill," Lucy said.

"Neither will I! Can't believe I lost my time here—you and your family are cursed, I say!" he exclaimed, his voice fizzling in and out. "And this dimension is cursed with you!"

He started to rotate as he ended his speech. "I'll never set foot in here again, mark my words! Have fun trying to survive in this heck you call _hoooomeeee!"_

Bill's silhouette suddenly brightened up, illuminating the room and dazzling Lucy for a second, then everything ceased as quickly as it had started. Lucy reopened her eyes just in time to see the planchette falling right below where Bill was, landing on the Ouija board right where she had left it. The planchette remained immobile, and when Lucy looked around the room, she could see nothing that suggested that Bill was still around.

He was _gone._

Lucy let out a sincere sigh of relief, letting herself fall on the floor to rest her body.

That was… _weird._ And frightening.

But she was happy it was all over. No one could know for sure what kind of evil Bill would have done if he ever managed to find that place he had talked about, but thankfully his plans had been thwarted… all thanks to her siblings.

Her thoughts came to a halt as someone knocked on the door. "Lucy?" Lynn said, voice definitely calmer than the previous tone she used while taunting Lincoln and 'her'. "Listen, I'm not chasing you anymore… we're all here behind the door, actually. We're a bit worried. Is everything all right? Can we come in?"

Lucy forced herself to stand up and dried off the sweat from her forehead. She made sure to go and pick up the Ouija board and hide it back below her bed, then quickly disassembled the few elements she had assembled for the ritual, making a metal note to _burn_ everything at a later time. Then, she went to the door and opened it.

"I'm… okay," she simply answered, walking into the hallway as her siblings studied her. Most of them were not that convinced by her reassurance… even Bobby, who was looking over the scene from nearby Lori's room, didn't seem convinced.

"If there's something wrong, you better tell us, Lucy. Lana has just told us you offered her your coffin collection for free… that's not something I'd have expected you to do," Lori said.

Lucy flinched, remembering that little stunt Bill had pulled on her. "Hey, hey! Don't worry, I just used one!" Lana quickly reassured, noticing her reaction. She could tell that Lori had already given her a reprimand about that.

"But anyway, you've not been acting like yourself," Lincoln said, "and we should've all noticed earlier that something was up. Tell us, Lucy, did something happen?"

"At school maybe?"

"Has Lynn done something bad again?"

"Hey!"

Lucy considered her options. She really, _really_ wanted to tell them the full truth. She wanted to tell them that she had been naïve and had made a deal with an interdimensional demon that had taken possession of her body to find a way to invade their world. She wanted to tell them that the 'Lucy' they had been interacting with was really Bill himself inside her body, and that for some stroke of luck they had involuntarily managed to drive him crazy and convince him to leave for good. She wanted to tell them that they had, in doing so, saved both _her and the world._

But Lucy knew how that story sounded. She could already see Lori arching an eyebrow when she started to talk about the Ouija board actually working, Lisa roll her eyes when she described Bill's short appearance as a hovering triangle, Luan making a joke when she told them she had been looking over them as a spirit while Bill controlled her body. No, they would not believe her, and frankly he couldn't blame them. She had learned herself to distinguish between liking the style of the dark arts and the reality that was behind them, after all, and the board itself had been just a game until it had started to work.

So… that taken into account, maybe she _didn't_ have to lie, though.

"I… uh. Well, something _did_ happen," she said slowly, thinking over every sentence. "I sort of, uh… argued with someone I thought was a friend of mine."

"Do we have to give him a lesson?" Lynn immediately interrupted, cracking her knuckles. A glare from Lori was all she needed to relent.

"No, no," Lucy replied. "It was my fault to believe that he could be a friend. I should have known better, seen the signs… and today, I sort of lost control of myself. He had been one I could talk with for some time, even vent a little, and seeing all of that taken way was not easy, I guess."

"Oh, Lucy, but you can talk with us, with _any of us_ , if you ever need someone to talk to," Leni said, approaching her and putting both hands on her shoulders.

"Except for Lola, she would spill out every syllable you told her in the span of thirty seconds since the end of your conversation," Lana added.

"Hey! I thought you believed I was over that!" Lola protested.

"Nah, she's just messing with you. Though, you can't deny you were a bit of a professional information dealer!" Luan said.

"But anyway, if you ever need something sis, know that whoever could go and disappoint you out there, you can always turn back to us, whatever you need," Luna said, gaining the collective nods from the rest of the family.

Lucy let herself don a rare smile. She had talked with Bill about her sisters and brother a few times, telling him about how she found them a bit too much loud and irritating sometimes. Looking for help from him was a mistake, but now that she thought about it, Bill had been playing a part, and he was good at it. It would've been hard to notice something was off. No, what she should have done was looking elsewhere, if she wanted someone to talk to. She did have a few friends at school, after all.

And, most of all, she had her siblings.

"Thank you, guys," she said gratefully. "I'm sorry if I ever look like you're bothering me. I should be more open with you all."

"Well, frankly, we aren't exactly without fault here. We should pay more attention to you as well when you're around," Lori admitted.

"Not to mention that this way we could stop you from scaring the wits out of us every time you ask us anything," Lincoln added, his sisters chuckling at his remark.

"Thanks. I don't mind that, I must say that I like being unnoticed. Makes going around far easier," Lucy said, most of her siblings groaning jokingly.

Then, after thinking about it for a little, she added, "I just think you're already the best as you are."

The Louds all aww-ed and went to embrace Lucy in a big group hug. And Lucy hugged back.

Yes, this house could be a bit 'loud' sometimes. And, if she had to be honest, she liked it.

' _Yes, Bill,'_ she thought to herself, remembering Bill's last words, _'fun is exactly what I have in here, and guess what. I'm not stopping anytime soon.'_

A 'click' was heard. Bobby had just taken a picture of the family, and when he moved his phone away from his eyes, the Louds smiled upon seeing him tearing up. "I'm sorry, I just… _sniff…_ couldn't help it. You're too cute."

They all laughed together, but the group immediately dispersed when a fart was heard, followed by Lily voicing her distress out. "Poo-poo!"

"Yes, Lily is in need of a proper change, as I was saying," Lisa said. "Now, who's next on this dirty yet necessary task?"

As always, the siblings started to argue with one another as who would have had the honours to change Lily. While the Louds shouted at each other, Lisa approached Lucy quietly.

"As much as I must say I may miss a little when you were willing to cooperate, I will say that what our siblings said is view on the subject I also share. Therefore, I'd like to ask you about the generalities of this so called 'friend', just so we can have a reference in case we have the displeasure of encountering him again," Lisa said.

"No, thank you, Lisa… I don't think that'll be necessary," Lucy replied. "I really think that I, or better, _we_ won't see or even hear of him for a _very, very long time."_

* * *

"Geez, that darn barrier is an annoyance bar no one. I think I've never seen something so annoying, to be just a few centimetres away from endless fun around an entire universe!"

"Yeah, tell me about it! I thought we were going to have full freedom once we left for this place, and now here we are! Trapped, again!"

The two monster's debate was interrupted by no other than Bill Cipher himself. He was holding on the statue that used to be Ford Pines, carrying him to do whatever his next plan was, but his interest had been caught by the creatures' subject of discussion somehow.

"Boys, boys… you don't know _half_ of what can be truly _annoying,"_ he simply stated, matter-of-factly.

"Huh? Then, what would that be?"

Bill glared at the monster, who made a step back in fright, then he simply hmphed. He may have also shivered for just one moment at a certain memory, but that was better not to be noticed.

In the end he simply said, "Trust me… _you don't want to know."_

 **THE END**


End file.
